Last week I dished up five reasons to celebrate the local live music scene in Milwaukee.
Soon, the festival season will kick into gear and some local venues will slow down a little. But early announcements so far are encouraging for live music at indoor venues this summer, too. That's great news.
Meanwhile, this week it was pretty easy to come up with five more reasons Milwaukee is a great live music town ...
- My Morning Jacket – Two weeks ago you could have watched an MMJ gig streaming live at Turner Hall. But this week, you can experience one of the best bands in the country in person at the Riverside.
The Louisville cats will certainly focus on the latest disc, "Circuital," released May 31, but I bet they throw in some fan favorites from the back catalog, too, when they play Thursday, June 16.
Tickets are $42.50 for the 8:30 p.m. show, but you also get to hear opener, fellow Kentuckian Daniel Martin Moore, whose new Sub Pop disc, "In the Cool of the Day," was one of the great, quiet surprises of recent months (and featured MMJ's Yim Yames on banjo).
One dollar from each ticket benefits the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters. - The Cave Singers – This Seattle trio (Pete Quirk on vocals, guitar and harmonica; Derek Fudesco on guitar and bass; and Marty Lund on drums and guitar) rose from the ashes of Pretty Girls Make Graves and Murder City Devils, four years ago combining those bands' catchiness (the former) and raucousness (the latter).
Fresh off a tour with Fleet Foxes, The Cave Singers have a new record, "No Witch," on Jagjaguar and are back on the road, this time as headliners. They come to Milwaukee courtesy of WMSE and Battlecry Milwaukee for a Wednesday, June 15 gig at the Cactus Club.
The show is a mere $7, starts at 10 p.m. and also includes opener Young Man, from Chicago. How can you resist? - The Postelles – New York's The Postelles play at the Summer Soulstice Music Festival on East North Avenue at 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 18.
If the post-punk band's catchy pop songs seem even more concise and catchy and laced with great guitar parts, consider that the band's self-titled debut – released just last week on Plus One Records – was produced by The Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr., who knows a few things about the short, sharp shock of great guitar pop. - Lovers – Electro-pop is alive and well. And you thought it went away with the Human League and OMD? Not so. Fronted by diva Carolyn Berk, Lovers latest record is "Dark Light," a catchy, synth-driven pop record that has big beats, three-part harmonies and songs you can sink your teeth into.
The Portland, Ore., outfit is on a two-month, coast to coast U.S. tour that brings them to Milwaukee for a show on Thursday, June 16 at Frank's Power Plant in Bay View. - Natasha Bedingfield / Andy Grammer – Two mainstream pop stars are on tap on Friday, June 17 at The Pabst. They may not be to everyone's tastes – as is true of everyone in this column, of course – but their appearance here is further testament to the variety of live music on offer in Brew City 2011.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
